Technology Podcast

We were asked to record a broadcast with a topic related to technology, I had to rant about my phone.



Script:

Hi Everyone,

When I was told I had to record a podcast about technology, I could only think of one thing that’s been driving me insane lately, my phone.

My name is Gaser El Safty, and I'm going to rant about Blackberries.

I never liked this phone to begin with, I never even knew what It could do, but I was first introduced to it as more of a trend than a piece of hardware, they were everywhere, the red LED  light, that annoying *Ring*, it drove me insane.  I even took up an article to compare it to an iPhone.

Eventually that same newspaper I wrote the article for drove me to buying a Blackberry.  After I did my research turns out the phone had internet access, emails come to you as if text messages, facebook, twitter, and of course since everyone else has it; BBM.

So to be fair I'll first say what's good about this phone,

Having internet access all the time is very convenient, I'd check the news through Google or BBC on the way to school, there's an application for AP that’s also very useful, I've even come across other apps like 'CircleTie' that locates all restaurants, cafes, and cinemas around  you, and gives you their address and phone number.

Since blackberry messenger is free once you subscribe to the blackberry service, you can endlessly chat to anyone on your list, anywhere in the world provided they have their blackberry service operating as well.

Sounds convenient right?

Wrong

It's how you willingly open the door to hoards and hoards of spam, just continuously overflowing you're email inbox, pointless broadcasts about things you couldn’t care less about, and facebook with all its application requests.  Honestly, twitters, getting constant updates from people is exactly what I DON’T want from technology.

So you would say if the phone ringing so much is so annoying, why not put the phone on silent?

Out of 20 times your phone rings, only once or twice does it actually concern you, and if you got this phone for work purposes, needing to send emails back and forth between your boss and peers, it defeats the damn purpose if you don’t get it instantly.

And some things just weren’t meant to be instant, how am I supposed to read through 27 emails sent between yesterday and today?  For the very first time when I look through my emails on my laptop, my inbox looks worse than my junk mail.

In conclusion I'll have to admit this phone has been useful at times, but think of it like bugs in software, it still needs some fining tuning and tweaking, in this case, for causing severe irritation.

Listening Journal #2

NPR hourly newscast

Anchor: Lak Shmee Sing

Reporters:  Yuki Niguchi, Tom Bowman, Dwahili Sao Kao Tao,

Length: 4:46

The newscast had really good quality sound, I didn’t find it hard understanding anything that was said, the pace was fair, if it was any slower it would get monotonous and boring.
It contained American news concerning unemployment, a sound bite that contained an excerpt of Obama's speech, and it's worth mentioning that the excerpt was mastered as to not sound disorienting when shifting between the anchor and the speech.
Each story is first set up by the anchor and then you get a reporter from the corresponding country going into more depth about the story.
The news cast also included reports from china about the Nobel peace prize, economic news and a report from Seoul about the leader's son.
There were no Nat sounds at all in the newscast; maybe if there were more it could've been a little bit more interesting.

BBC newscast

Anchor: Nick Kelly

Reporters: Nick Thorp, Nicholas Whitchel, James Copnell

Length: 5 minutes

Stories: Hungarian toxic sludge, rescue shaft in Chili (health minister in Spanish translation in English), British aid worker captured in Afghanistan Dies, insurgents ambush group of Italian soldiers from NATO, Pakistani government, United Nations talks on climate change, clash in Khartoum, update from Chili, Indonesia former playboy editor taken into custody

This newscast felt more official than NPR; there was more news in there even though there were 3 reporters and an anchor in both newscasts.
It involved news from Hungary about the toxic sludge, news from Chili about a rescue shaft being dug for the miners who've been trapped in a collapsed mine and Afghanistan where a captured British aid worker dies and insurgents ambushing Italian NATO soldiers, among others.
It was impressive seeing an update come in later during the newscast about Chili, but there was no mention of any sports or business news.

Audio Essay: Schooling & Creativity

This was my first audio assignment for my Radio Production class, Enjoy!



Script:

Ever since I was a little boy I was made to believe that schooling had a single definitive purpose, to get you a good job that will pay well so you can live out a steady and successful life. But 20 years into my own potentially successful life I've come to realize that that is not in fact the purpose of schooling but rather to mold individuals to fit into society's social construct and fulfill their societal roles as respectable dependable individuals.

What I've come to believe is, schooling, in fact, kills an individual's creativity, on the premise that their creative passions will not be enough to keep their living standard a stable one.

Writing was only my third favorite thing to do; my first passion was always my guitar. Made merely of wood and steal, at age 14 this instrument became the first thing I ever wanted to truly get better at.

At around this same age I was asked to think about what I'd want to do for a living, and the answer was really clear to me. My father however didn’t think too highly of me wanting to make music the centre of my life, saying 'where are you going to work?' or 'how do you plan on making a living?'

I didn’t have everything figured out at the time, nor do I have it all figured out now, but I was told to find the one thing that made me happy, that I would enjoy doing and this was it.

This was the first time I asked myself whether we go through all sorts of hardships in life to simply die rich, or die happy.

It is true that only so many musicians, actors or painters ever become famous, or make any real money from doing what they love, but at the same time there are lawyers, engineers and doctors, who've spent countless hours on their degree and wind up exactly as unemployed as those who chose to focus on what they thought was important, rather than what society told them was important.

People tend to excel at jobs they're passionate about, imagine Picasso had been forced into becoming a scientist, or Einstein into a painter, surely they wouldn't have done half as well in their fields as when they followed what they were passionate about.

Not all people are ecstatic at the idea of having their entire life laid out ahead of them, some, in fact, enjoy the mysteriousness of not knowing where their next meal is coming from.

This is not to say that education is entirely useless or harmful to people but rather its faulty in the sense that it forces us to believe that money is all that matters and without it we could never be happy.



For a really interesting lecture on creativity and 'genius', watch Elizabeth Gilbert's video here

Other Tutorials

These are tutorials on Google Sites, Picasa web albums and audacity that were done by our classmates.


Google Sites

Picasa Web Albums

Audacity

Google Maps Tutorial

This is a Tutorial video on how to use Google Maps, Narrated by me and prepared by Tamer Alfons and myself.

Audio Project #3

My topic was the cultural and sociological factors that affect smoking and smoking rates in Egypt.

Below is the Voicer and News Wrap










Also, I figured this website would come in handy to anyone interested in quitting.

Finally, the electronic cigarette, I've spun this around my head for hours but I still don't understand how this would work, but apparently it's does, well enough they even made a facebook group titled 'Smoking is Healthy'

Quick note on Audio interviews

Ok so this goes to anyone taking the 202 class this semester,

Did anyone notice how when you're interviewing someone and you need their voice to be clear on your recording, you can't laugh, comment back or speak when the person you're interviewing is talking?

You're just sitting there with a stupid smile on your face while you wait for the person to stop talking so you don't ruin your interview with your own voice, damn that was awkward.